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Primitive deuterostomes from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, China)

Nature volume 414, pages 419–424 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Cambrian fossil-Lagerstätten (sites of exceptional fossil preservation), such as those from Chengjiang (Lower Cambrian) and the Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian), provide our best window into the Cambrian ‘explosion’. Such faunas are known from about 40 localities, and have yielded a widely disparate series of taxa ranging from ctenophores to agnathan fish. Recent excavations of the Chengjiang fossil-Lagerstätte, known from a series of sites near Kunming in Yunnan, south China, have resulted in the discovery of several new forms. In conjunction with material described earlier, these provide evidence for a new group of metazoans, the vetulicolians. Several features, notably a series of gill slits, suggest that this group can throw light on an early stage of deuterostome diversification.

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Figure 1: The Lower Cambrian vetulicolian Didazoon haoae Shu & Han gen. et sp. nov. from Dabanqiao, Yunnan.
Figure 5: Coiled guts (arrows in a and b) and surface membranes (arrows in c–f) of vetulicolians.
Figure 2: The Lower Cambrian vetulicolian Xidazoon stephanus from Haikou, Kunming.
Figure 3: Gill structures of vetulicolians.
Figure 4: The Lower Cambrian vetulicolian Vetulicola cuneata (a–e) from Chengjiang and Vetulicola rectangulata (f, g) from Haikou, Kunming.
Figure 6: The Lower Cambrian Yunnanozoon lividum from Chengjiang, Yunnan.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by Ministry of Sciences and Technology of China, Natural Science Foundation of China, Education Department of China, and National Geographic, USA (D.-G.S., J.H., L.C., X.-L.Z., Z.-F.Z., H.-Q.L., Y.L. and J.-N.L.), the Royal Society, and St. John's College, Cambridge (S.C.M.). H.-L. Luo and S.-X. Hu gave access to material of Pomatrum in Kunming. We thank R. J. Aldridge, P. Janvier and R. P. S. Jefferies for comments, and L.-H. Guo, X.-X. Cheng, H.-X. Guo, S. J. Last and S. Capon for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Early Life Institute and Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an, China

    D.-G. Shu, J. Han, L. Chen, X.-L. Zhang, Z.-F. Zhang, H.-Q. Liu, Y. Li & J.-N. Liu

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK

    S. Conway Morris

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Correspondence to D.-G. Shu.

Supplementary information

Figure I.

Additional Vetulicolians. (JPG 119 KB)

a,b, Didazoon haoae, a, ELI-0000197, two superimposed specimen s, upper with intestine in posterior section showing spiral arrangement of contents, lower with excavated anterior section showing gills and possible endostyle; b, ELI-0000199, with incompletely preserved anterior section and recurved posterior.

c,d, Xidazoon stephanus, c, Specimen ELI-0000206, anterior section with mouth region. d, Specimen ELI-0000205A, ventral view of anterior section showing mouth cone and possible endostyle.

e,f, Vetulicola cuneata, e, ELI-0000214, entire specimen with prominent gills. f, ELI-0000485, entire specimen with prominent gill-tubes.

g,h, Vetulicola rectangulata, g, ELI-0000306B, complete specimen; h, ELI-0000318, complete specimen. Scale bars millimetric

Figure II.

Gill structures of Vetulicola cuneata (c,g;d,h;i,m;k,o;q,u;t,x) and V. rectangulata (a,e;b,f;j,n;l,p;r,v;s,w). (JPG 94.2 KB)

a,e, specimen ELI-0000317A; b,f, specimen ELI-0000306B; c,g, specimen ELI-0000207; d,h, specimen ELI-0000215; i,m, specimen ELI-0000207; j,n, specimen ELI-0000337B;

k,o, specimen ELI-0000274; l,p, specimen ELI-0000338A; q,u, specimen ELI-0000214;

r,v, specimen ELI-0000306A; s,w, specimen ELI-0000270; t,x, specimen ELI-0000256.

Scale bars millimetric

Figure III.

Coiled gut of Vetulicola cuneata. (JPG 86.4 KB)

a,b, specimen ELI-0000309A; c,d, specimen ELI-0000255.

Scale bars millimetric

Figure IV.

Surface membranes (see arrows) of Vetulicola cuneata (a,g,h,k-n,p-r) and V. rectangulata (b-f,i,j,o). (JPG 130 KB)

a,b, anterior of specimens ELI-0000346 and ELI-0000264;

c-i, posterior and ventral margins of the anterior section of specimens, ELI-0000317A, 317A, 322, 380, 255,320, 260 respectively;

j, membrane along the lateral mid-line tube and gills of specimen ELI-0000338A;

k-o, dorsal °∞fin°± and dorso-posterior margins of specimens ELI-0000320, 319,338A, 261,210 respectively;

p-r, membranes along margins of posterior section of specimens ELI-0000302A, 313, 312B respectively.

Scale bars millimetric

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Shu, DG., Morris, S., Han, J. et al. Primitive deuterostomes from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, China). Nature 414, 419–424 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35106514

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